alas-tastic surprise

Once again, we have a demonstration of the maxim that one should think, not twice, but seven or eight times, before deciding not to send a particular story to a particular market. It is the editor's job to reject it, not yours; certainly you should not send it if it's explicitly against their guidelines (your dragon-and-unicorn story to Analog, frex), but if you just think it's a matter of taste, send it anyway. Case in point: the story I wasn't sure was even worth submitting anywhere ("Selection," the second-person thingy, for those who critiqued it) got past the slush reader at F&SF and garnered a nice alas-o-gram from GVG.

So I guess it doesn't suck half so much as I had feared. Cool. ^_^